Paul McCartney died in 1966 and was replaced by a lookalike: the conspiracy theory

disclaimer: I don’t actually believe this theory it’s just really interesting and creepy

tw// some of this stuff is genuinely unsettling so if you think this might bother you please don’t read past this tweet!

without any further ado here’s part 1: the story

on college campuses in the late 60s, a conspiracy theory was circulating that Paul McCartney had died in 1966 and was replaced by a lookalike. he was believed to have been decapitated in a car accident on November 9, 1966.

this theory began spreading after an American radio show where someone called in claiming that Paul McCartney was dead and told the station to play the intro to Revolution 9 backwards. after this, the theory spiraled into a craze that swept across America.

the story goes that due to guilt & the fear of mass hysteria if the public found out Paul died, the remaining Beatles replaced Paul with the winner of a lookalike contest, even giving him plastic surgery and spending the next months teaching him how to act & sing just like Paul.

in order to pull this off, they would need a really abrupt change in appearance/image and in how Paul was seen in public. thus begins the Sgt Pepper era, in which the beatles completely reinvented their image as a band and also stopped touring altogether.

Paul also disappeared from the public eye, which made more fans wonder if the beatle was still alive. in reality, this was when he had moved to his farm with Linda.

however, given that the remaining three would have felt extremely guilty about replacing their band member, they left clues to Paul’s death in album covers and lyrics, which leads us to:

part 2: album cover clues

the album with the most clues is the Sgt Pepper’s cover, simply because it’s so busy and there’s a lot to unpack. a cover like this is an easy place to leave lots of unexpected messages to fans.

1. if the part of the drum that says “lonely hearts” is reflected on itself, it says “1 one IX he die,” which contains numbers and Roman numerals spelling “11/9 he die.” this indicates the day that Paul died, November 9th.

2. the flowers below the group of people form the shape of a left-handed bass guitar. when traced out, these flowers spell “Paul?” which indicate another clue to Paul’s death.

3. in some eastern religions, the symbol of a hand raised above another’s head signifies death. on the cover, Paul is the only person to have a hand held over his head.

4. the sgt pepper’s photoshoots also give a lot of insight into this conspiracy. in this photo, Paul is the only one facing away from the camera, and in the second one, his jacket has a patch on the left arm that says “O.P.D.,” an abbreviation for “officially pronounced dead.”

abbey road clues

1. a lot of people say that Paul not wearing shoes on the cover is a bit of a stretch, but it’s more of what he represents in this photo.

the line they’re following on the abbey road cover is meant to replicate a funeral procession. John, dressed in white, symbolizes an angel or a priest. Ringo, wearing black, symbolizes the mourners at paul’s funeral.

Paul, dressed in normal clothes and wearing no shoes, is meant to be the person who is deceased. bringing up the rear is George in all denim, representing none other than the gravedigger.

2. the car in the background has a license plate that says “28IF,” believed to say that Paul would be 28 if he were still alive. (he was actually 29 when abbey road came out, but he would’ve been 28 when the photo was taken)

3. the back of the album has the Beatles’ name on it, but if you connect the dots next to it, it spells “3 Beatles.” enough said.

part 3: the one and only billy shears

obviously, the remaining Beatles would have to replace Paul with someone who would be able to look and act just like him. enter William Shears Campbell, a recent participant in a Paul McCartney lookalike contest.

this is worth noting due to the fact that a character named billy shears is named in the intro to “With a Little Help from My Friends.” although ringo starts to sing after Billy is introduced, the new Paul sings the line, introducing himself to the audience and the public.

it’s believed that Campbell was given plastic surgery to look more like Paul, but sometimes you can still see a difference in his facial structure in photos before November 1966. top two are pre-66, bottom two are from 1967 (special thanks to @overthehiIIs for the pics)

part 4: lyric clues

this is a rough list, I’m really only gonna go over the most significant/creepy ones

also tw: I’m not putting audio in here, but a few of these clues involve listening to their songs backwards which can be extremely unsettling so pls don’t do that if you think it’ll bother you!

(for reference, you can find links to the backwards clips on youtube if you search the song, the lyric, and the phrase “Paul is dead.” look it up online, please don’t play your records backward!! it’s extremely damaging to the surface & it’s not worth it)

1. both “She’s Leaving Home” and “Good Morning Good Morning” mention 5 oclock, giving details of the time of the crash.

2. “A Day in the Life” actually gives details of what happened in Paul’s alleged accident, saying that “He blew his mind out in a car. He didn't notice that the lights had changed. A crowd of people stood and stared. They'd seen his face before..."

3. “Only a Northern Song” also contains some clues. “When you're listening late at night / you may think the band is not quite right," details how things are different with Campbell, as well as “You may think the band's a little dark and out of key” showing the band’s guilt.

4. “You Know My Name” has a phone number spoken at the end, which apparently gives you more clues if you call it. there’s also a phone number written in the stars on the magical mystery tour cover when reflected in a mirror.

if any of y’all decide to be brave (unlike me) and call these numbers, please let me know what happens!! I’ll add it to the thread :)

5. this one is more well known, but John appears to say “I buried Paul” at the end of “Strawberry Fields Forever.”

6. “I Am the Walrus” has a recorded passage from Shakespeare’s King Lear which is all about untimely death.

7. in “Glass Onion,” John sings “and here’s another clue for you all: the walrus was Paul.” this implies the Beatles’ awareness that fans are looking for clues & their willingness to share the story as much as they can.

8. when the phrase “number nine” in Revolution 9 is played backwards, it says “turn me on, dead man” which is actually the clue believed to have started this conspiracy. you can also hear a car crash audio along with its aftermath at some point during this song.

9. the mumbling at the end of “I’m So Tired,” when played backwards, says “Paul’s a dead man, miss him, miss him”

part 5: debunking

yeah, okay, Paul’s facial structure is a little different after ‘66. this is due to a miraculous process called aging.

the reason he had no shoes on abbey road was because the shoes were really ugly. (he also said he took them off because it was hot outside) and the rest is just whatever they wanted to wear that day. George looked good in denim and he knew it https://twitter.com/nowherebecky/status/1152704564925272064?s=21

most of these clues are coincidence. in fact, the patch on Paul’s sgt pepper’s jacket actually says “O.P.P.” and was just photographed at a tricky angle.

we find the majority of clues because we’re looking for them. this theory circulated in a time of societal unrest in the western world, including a lack of faith in political leaders. the public was ready to believe just about anything.

the biggest argument against this theory is the fact that Paul still makes amazing music. if this theory were true, it would mean that billy shears wrote beatles classics like Hey Jude & Let it Be. there’s just no way.

as for the backwards lyrics in revolution 9 & I’m so Tired, uh.. I’ve got nothing.

here’s the thing: if you listen to a song or look at an album cover with the express goal of looking for clues that Paul is dead, you’ll find things that kind of work with the theory. same with listening to records backwards.

the crazy thing is that we’ll never really know what happened. but I think we can be pretty confident Paul is alive and still doing great things.

.... unless.. ?

so what do y’all think? is Paul really dead? or was it all a hoax?